Light vs Heavy Eccentrics and Structural Strength

Light vs Heavy Eccentrics and Structural Strength

QUESTION

I’ve been reading the book, Triphasic Training, by Cal Dietz… he trains each dynamic action separately starting with the eccentric phase of the movement. He uses submaximal and supramaximal slow eccentrics (5-6 seconds down). What do you think about the supramaximal eccentric training? How do you prefer to train the eccentric phase aiming for structural adaptations?

ANSWER

First, let’s talk about submaximal slow eccentrics. You know in strength programming we have intensity and volume, right? People typically think of those being connected to load and rep number. But lifting tempo can also be used to modify intensity and volume. Going down slowly prevents the weight from gaining momentum. This reduces the effort and muscular force produced during eccentric braking (lower intensity). But going down slowly also increases time under tension (increases volume).

This makes sense to do when an athlete is not prepared for extremely high muscular forces, such as at the beginning of a training program or in a rehab situation. However we do eventually want to get athletes to a point where they can be exposed to high muscular force and respond well to it. This is where natural speed or faster eccentrics are useful, because they evoke really high muscle tension. I talk about that in this post.

A post shared by Daniel Back (@jump_science) on Sep 8, 2017 at 6:39pm PDT

Faster eccentrics take muscles to a higher structural strength level because of the high intensity. Since they don’t require heavy loads, they can also easily be done for higher volumes. But this isn’t something anyone should just jump into with any exercise. Obviously lifting mechanics have to be in order. But also slower eccentrics can be used to build toward this high intensity level.

Supramaximal eccentrics are another way to achieve the high intensity, but they are impractical and far more taxing on the nervous system than light, fast eccentrics. They certainly can be used for structural strength if enough reps are done, but doing reps is a chore. For that reason, if I used supramaximal eccentrics, it would probably be just a few reps to try to stimulate a higher effort level rather than doing volume for structural purposes.

QUESTION

You told me that you can perform fast eccentrics with a light load and more volume. My question now is what is the percentage estimated and rep range for that? And with the supramaximal eccentrics… doing just a few reps to try to stimulate a higher effort level is for neurological purposes, right?

ANSWER

Correct on the supramaximal.

For structural purposes on the fast eccentrics, 20-40 total reps is a reasonable range. Whether it’s 5×5 or 3×10 or whatever doesn’t really matter. The load can be a wide range. Even 25% can be enough to cause major soreness. At the same time it can go up to maybe 75% if the lifter can maintain mechanics with that. Advanced lifters can use fast eccentrics even on max outs, but obviously low rep stuff isn’t for structural purposes.